What's New With YakAngler?

Many of you may have noticed some significant changes to the site in the past couple of weeks. There was a hack attempt on the site, which was quickly obverted but brought to light some issues with outdated components. I had been dragging my feet to upgrade certain aspects of the site due to the significant amount of work involved… Yeah I was being lazy. That laziness almost bit me in the behind.

After upgrading several major components it seemed a good time to add a few new features to YakAngler and YakSocial.

The Pretty: I updated the initial login page of YakSocial with some of our user submitted images; I thought it was time to spruce things up a little bit. I added some much needed graphics and tweaked a few other things to help improve the overall look and feel of YakAngler. And if you wondering… This isn't Bill “Heywood” Howard's site; even if his mug is plastered all over it. I didn't have any “Non-Heywood” photos of people wearing our gear. Feel free to submit your own photos for possible inclusion in the site!

Chit Chat: Yes I’m sure you have seen the new Chat or Shout Box in YakSocial. This will hopefully enable everyone to talk more freely with each other. We had a similar feature when we first launched the site but it went away with the site makeover… Well it’s back! There are still a few bugs in it but no show stoppers. There are more features available with the paid for version like having the ability to go to a Private Chat with another user. But we won’t upgrade until we see it being used frequently.

Activity Stream: The YakSocial activity stream had a major overhaul, most of it behind the scenes, but you may notice that you can no longer link to images. That feature was incompatible with the latest community software, so unless they fix it it’s “Hasta la vista, baby”.

New Regional Reports: Our regional kayak fishing reports are ever expanding. We’ve recently added a New England Reports for all our YakAngler’s in the Upper North East, and an East South Central Reports for all kayak fishing enthusiasts in the Ohio River Valley.

Social Sharing: The Tweet this link is still not working correctly. You link will still contain "+" signs instead of spaces. This should all be worked out when Twitter permanently switches to their new home page.

Google recently launched their +1 button. This button allows Google users to "+1", or recommend, a site or web page. Google describes the +1 button like this:

"The +1 button is shorthand for "this is pretty cool" or "you should check this out." Click +1 to publicly give something your stamp of approval. Your +1's can help friends, contacts, and others on the web find the best stuff when they search."

You'll now notice the Google +1 button at the bottom of all articles “Show us some Google +1 Love”. I’ve also revamped the Facebook like button… Nothing amazing really to talk about, but it should pull article information better “I hope”.

About the Author: Mark "YakSushi" Watanabe is the Co. Founder of YakAngler.com and the Founder of YakSushi Media. He considers himself a mediocre fisherman and an unexceptional writer. He's the devoted father of two little "Sushi's" and everyday tech ninja.

Mark "YakSushi" Watanabe is the Co. Founder of YakAngler.com, "He built this site!". He considers himself a mediocre fisherman and an unexceptional writer. He's the devoted father of a ton of little sushis (Air Quotes) and everyday tech ninja.